Arsenal came up just short of Manchester City in the 2023/2024 Premier League title race, the second season in a row where Pep Guardiola has narrowly beaten his former student Mikel Arteta.
Despite the Euros and Copa America finishing just a few days ago, the Gunners are already exploring options in the transfer market as they look to win their first league title in 21 years.
Arteta wasted no time in getting the band back together after the international tournaments wrapped up; the first team players were back at London Colney the day after the finals, with those in the semi-finals of their respective tournaments granted just one extra week off.
The Spaniard didn't feel the need to see his players in action again before making a number of decisions however.
There are heavy rumours that academy products Emile Smith-Rowe and Eddie Nketiah could be on their way out to raise funds for a couple of big deals later in the window.
Eddie Nketiah was becoming something of a cult hero for Arsenal before Kai Havertz started racking up the goals. With Gabriel Jesus falling into the second choice striker role, the opportunity to cash in on Nketiah, a proven goal scorer, seems too good for Arsenal to pass.
The Gunners value their number 14 at around £40,000,000 and this is fair enough given his big moments over the past couple of seasons. With Jesus' struggles to stay fit, Nketiah has flipped between starter and substitute several times in the past two seasons, but Havertz's great end to the season may have ended Nketiah's Arsenal career.
It's been no secret that Smith-Rowe has fallen out of favour at Arsenal. When Arsenal have had starters missing, the likes of Leandro Trossard and Reiss Nelson have been chosen ahead of the Gunners' number 10.
Smith-Rowe arrived with a bang in the Premier League, starring in a win over Chelsea in December 2020 that put him on the map. Arsenal fans will remember several good times for Smith-Rowe, many of which came alongside Bukayo Saka, including that North London Derby in 2021 which kicked off the "Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe" chant.
It fell apart quite quickly for Smith-Rowe though. He struggled with injury throughout 2022 and 2023, and was replaced by Reiss Nelson against Bournemouth in March 2023 despite having come on as a substitute. Nelson then proceeded to score a 97th-minute winner which saw him eclipse Smith-Rowe.
Speaking of Nelson, the winger has attracted interest from Premier League sides, including West Ham and Brighton. Arteta is a fan of Nelson and likes his ability to dribble past players, but it may well be time to cash in on a player who isn't really the competition for Bukayo Saka Arsenal would like.
Whilst many Arsenal fans would of course be disappointed to see three academy graduates leave the Emirates, their departures could make room for some fairly exciting signings.
The first high-profile signing for Arsenal, aside from making David Raya's loan deal a permanent one, may well be to bring Italian defender Ricciardo Calafiori to North London.
After impressing for Italy in Euro 2024, the left-back turned centre-back would provide the fourth and final depth position in the Arsenal back four, leaving Arteta with eight quality first-team defenders.
Calafiori is a no-nonsense freight train of a defender who can play some exceptional football with the ball at his feet; he was part of Thiago Motta's Bologna side that qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 1964.
His raw ability at just 22 years old makes him a perfect back-up for Arsenal's ironclad centre-back pairing as well as a potential future replacement at either full-back or centre-back.
Make no mistakes though, Calafiori wouldn't be starting for Arsenal, at least not in central defence. Saliba and Gabriel, together with David Raya, were formidable at the back for Arteta.
Another potential signing who would likely get more game time is Mikel Merino. The Spanish midfielder, who scored Spain's 119th-minute winner to knock hosts Germany out of the Euros, has been linked with the Gunners.
Thomas Partey has been linked with a move away from the Premier League this Summer, with his manager reportedly frustrated at his consistent lack of fitness.
With an ambitious move for Bruno Guimaraes looking unlikely and Jorginho not getting any younger, Arteta feels the need to find a solid third midfielder.
As good as we all knew Declan Rice to be, no one could've predicted just how well he and Martin Odegaard would've played together in Arsenal's midfield last season. But none of the other players who featured there with them hit their level; Merino can.
Merino had the highest average match-rating in the Real Sociedad squad last season, scoring five times in 32 appearances. The creative midfielder has only a year left on his contract and hasn't engaged in contract negotiations with his current club with any real enthusiasm.
Having the flexibility to swap between Merino and Rice as the defensive midfielder within a game would allow both players to influence the game with their creativity as well as protecting one of the best defences in Europe.
What Arsenal won't seemingly be doing however is going after a striker, at least not to begin with.
The somewhat remarkable resurgence of Kai Havertz in the second half of the season has drawn Arteta's attention elsewhere.
The German may not be the 30-goal-a-season striker Erling Haaland is, but he helps Arsenal's fluid football flow by dropping deep at times whilst also maintaining a presence in the opposition penalty area.
On top of this, he has that distinctive yet understated quality of being thoroughly disliked by opposition fans.
His stupendous ability to absolutely incense opposition players and supporters alike gives Arsenal a bit of grit. Yes, Havertz brings quality and delivered goals for Arsenal, but he also brings character.
All of the great title winning teams have had that one player where opposition fans' reaction if they score against them is "why did it have to be him?" and that's exactly what his derby goals against Brentford, Tottenham and Chelsea delivered.
There are better strikers in the world than Havertz, in fact there are at least three in the Premier League.
But with Arsenal needing a third midfielder to go alongside Rice and captain Odegaard, and with a proper back-up to Bukayo Saka highly desirable as well, there is no pressing need to replace a man who just got better and better in, what was remember, his debut season with the Gunners.
There may be some sad days in the early parts of the window, with academy graduates Nketiah, Nelson and Smith-Rowe all linked with moves out of North London. But if they, and potentially Partey as well, were to leave, it could pave the way for some very exciting additions to the Arsenal squad.
Whatever Arteta (and Sporting Director Edu) decide to do, it's a safe bet that Arsenal's 2024/2025 squad will be even stronger than last season's.
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